Fungus observations around Australia, particularly in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney

Wednesday, 23 July 2008

#30 Phallus rubicundus

This pink, orange or red stinkhorn fungus is shaped like a spike or rod, or as the name indicates, is phallic in shape. It grows to about 150mm high and often pops up in lawns, gardens, potplants or mulch.

The matchbox gives an indication of size

of this collapsed Phallus rubicundus

An orange specimen of Phallus rubicundus

This stinkhorn fungus can be distinguished from Mutinus elegans by having separate head holding the brown spore-bearing matter.

As with all stinkhorn fungi, Phallus rubicundus starts out as a gelatinous egg-like structure from which the fruiting body emerges. The fragile hollow stem is perforated, and if sliced horizontally, will be roughly circular. Somewhat sponge-like in texture, it is soft to the touch and will break easily. More information at Mushroom Expert.

The sponge-like texture

The slimy spore-bearing head is separate from the body -

this is an important identifying feature

The interior is hollow and roughly circular.Notice the stinkhorn "egg" and thin strands of hyphae

Hi Gaye. Great post, as usual.I note you comment on the spore-bearing cap slipping down the stem. That might explain some of Chai's puzzlement from last week.As with Duncan, I have not ever seen these Fungi.CheersDenis

I was searching on the internet to find something that related to what I have found growing in my garden this morning in Bensalem, PA. 4 of these, ugly and odd looking and totally out of place. Glad to hear that they are from Austrailia, just wondering how they got here!

thank you for your New Jersey (I am presuming 'NJ' is New Jersey) sighting. It is also interesting to note the substrate, mulch in your case. Thank you.

I will be interested to learn if you have this fungus fruiting in your new mulch in the years to come, and would be most grateful if you could leave a comment here with regards to this, sometime in the future. I will be surprised indeed if you have eradicated the fungus from your garden, but will be keen to hear of your experiences with this.

I am from New Brunswick, Canada and I was working on a property and found this type of fungus. I have never seen it before so I came home after work to look it up- which led me here. It was disgusting.

Hello to New Brunswick Canada. Thank you for letting me know of your find. Interesting. Yes, I guess they could be thought of as disgusting, but they still have a purpose - ie: decomposition of organic material, and therefore fertilising the soil, so they are helpful to we humans :)

I was glad to find your pictures. The dead version pictures are exactly what I have in the mulch around my tree in Minnesota. I have not seen the living, stand up version yet, nor have I ever seen these before in my yard. Thanks.

I'm glad my pictures were able to help you identify the strange forms in your garden. I think it is important to show the dead or dying versions of fungi, as well as the immature, as they often look so much different to the mature fungus that is normally pictured.

hello from Rome NY,I believe I just came across some of these in my mulch bed. I have never seen this kind of fungus before. I'm still not sure if its the right kind because the head is not separtated from the body. the stem is white and the head is red. There are dead ones that look just like your picture.

Me and my daughter found some of this in our Saint Paul Minnesota yard in wood chips around our home. The smell is so powerful. I thought had an animal relieving itself around our bushes until we discovered this fungus. It is NASTY. It seems to grow from nothing to 5 inches within days.

Thanks for posting these photos! These sprang up in my yard in Northern Illinois and I had to scour the internet to find out what they were... had never seen anything like them! First they grew under the hibiscus bush, then they showed up under a tomato plant. Mine don't stink too badly, though.

I also have these in my front flower bed. I am in Martinsville, Indiana. About 45 minutes south of Indianapolis. I have also used black bed mulch for my flower bed. They just appeared this year. Late summer early fall. The smell is horrible and unfortunately right outside of my front door? Does anyone know if they are poisonous or harmful to animals? I have two large dogs & also lots of wildlife, especially deer.

I finally found the fungi that are sprouting last year and now this year from my supposedly "gourmet, premium" black mulch which I purchased from a reputable plant nursery. Ugh. I'm in Bucks County, PA near Doylestown and I have never seen this fungi ANYWHERE (aside from websites) in person other than my own plant beds. I will now be trying a different mulch next time. Seems like its just in the "black" color mulch variety, the color I like best on my lawn. Don't think I'll be using this color anymore!!! Truly gross looking fungi, no matter how beneficial it may be as fertilizer, they are being removed as soon as I see them! Yuk!!!

North Providence, Rhode Island, USA: A couple weeks ago I spotted a "finger" but it wasn't attached to the ground, and I believed it to be a weird scrap left by an animal. This morning, I find about a dozen fingers in my wood chip mulched garden. Across the yard at the base of a wood chip pile, I spotted a few more fingers. A couple years ago, I had 13 trees cut down and was left with an over abudance of mulch for landscaping. I wanted a colorful garden, but I'm sure slimy mushrooms are NOT what I was going for. It sounds like they're not harmful, and are actually good for the soil...and that there's not an efficient way to permanently remove them anyway. At least mine aren't emitting an odor YET. Very helpful information. Thank you.

I just saw these in my back yard in Chevy Chase, Maryland (USA). At night we get deer in our backyard, so i thought it must be connected to that. Then i was puzzled as it seemed to travel around (now presuming new ones growing at different locations, while the previous disappear overnight). They just look facinating, with such vivid orange against black mulch. Sanjay

This site had the best photos! It really helped me identify the horrible smelling fungus that popped up in my pine bark mulch bed overnight. I ignorantly kicked one over to see what it was, thus releasing the lovely aroma. Because of the way the "eggs" looked, I thought they were just a cluster of white mushrooms. Thanks again from Raleigh, NC!

a whole colony, at least 30, sprouted recently amid the fallen petals under jacaranda trees at Emu Plains railway station after a few days of heavy rain. A bit of a shock to see this many at once. They seemed to favour the tree which gave the most shade. My only previous sighting was summer before last in some mulch in a garden, also at Emu Plains

Hello to readers from Emu Plains and Lambton in NSW, and Stanthorpe in Qld. Thank you all very much for sending in your observations. I also saw some Phallus rubicundus at the Hunter Region Botanic Gardens at Heatherbrae today.

Hi GayeNot sure why a sudden burst of interest from the USA, but it worthwhile noting the sudden appearance of these Fungi in eastern Australia, after bucket loads of rain.Isn't blogging great, when an old post like that suddenly springs back into life.Denis

Yes, and my Stinkhorn fungi posts are amongst the most often resurrected, and it's understandable - when first-time observers discover the weird and often foul forms visiting their gardens like some out-of-this-world life form.

I didn't get out looking for fungi after the early summer rain in the Hunter Valley, but I imagine this common Stinkhorn would have been about.

Several of these have sprung up on my front lawn this morning in Canberra- like all the other contributors- I trawled the internet and found your blog - many thanks for the information! And yes they do smell and grow very quickly. I'm guessing there'll be more in the morning as the tops were covered with flies! Thanks Gaye.

Hi Gaye,I spotted a stack of these ugly fun guys in the park along the Cooks River at Tempe, Sydney last weekend. They were quite prolific in a mulched garden bed in the public park beside the river. We've had a lot of rain and humidity in Sydney of late, might have encourage dthem. Great photos. Lynn

Another PA sighting! I thought my son had "planted" some of his Nerf bullets (same color, similar length) in the garden. It took me a few moments to realize that they had slimy heads and were actually growing out of THE BLACK MULCH. But this was mulch that we put down LAST YEAR, and we didn't get any last year (that I noticed). I showed them to my husband, and the next day he saw some at the golf course in their black mulch beds. Honestly I didn't smell the stink, but now that I know they are stinky, I will pay closer attention. I did find myself hoping that the neighbors didn't see them and think they were something I intentionally planted!Does PA import mulch from Australia??Trish

I just noticed these strange looking things in my front garden, which has black mulch. We have had so much rain that when I finally could get outside for some air I notices they were there. I also find them creepy.

We're in Dover DE and have these sprouting up all over our neighborhood. We live in a housing development that provides free lawn care, and mulch, to every house. I thought the random smells in the air were from the sewers, but I think I was wrong. A few others have asked also, is there any way to get rid of them without removing the mulch?

Hampton, VA. Somehow got lucky, as we have a non-stinky version that popped up in the last few weeks, possibly after Hurricane I, although I'm not completely positive on that timing. My grouping is in the middle of the lawn, nowhere near any mulch. I've seen them in neighbors' yards, also. I've lived here for 20+ years, and have never seen this one.Thanks for the great info!

Thanks for helping me identify what we called "Botanicus Dog Dickus" a most remarkable, disgusting and stinky fungus. Growing from mulch at our entrance, ACT Scouts Garran, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. I also thought it was nurf bulletts at first that kids had planted...but not possible, so many! And they smell! The flies love them. Are they carnivourous?

thank you for the sighting. Summer rain and humidity often set stinkhorn fungi sprouting.

No, they are not carnivorous. The fungus gets its nourishment from the substrate, which in this case would be the mulch and soil beneath. The flies are attracted to the stench and carry off the 'brown stinky goo' that contains spores and therefore spreads the fungus to other locations.

We found these in our back garden in Townsville after a few weeks of rain. Had no idea what they were. We have had the mulch in our back garden for a couple of years now and have never seen them before. They are everywhere!!!

I JUST DISCOVERED THESE GROWING IN MY LAWN IN SACRAMENTO, CA. AT FIRST I THOUGHT THEY WERE CHICKEN FEET THAT AN ANIMAL HAD LEFT BUT THEY KEEP COMING UP. ANY SUGGESTIONS ON GETTING RID OF THEM. I HAVE DOGS, ARE THEY POISONOUS?THANKSDEBBIE

Hi, I have been seeing this fungi in 1 part of my yard now for 3 years. I have never noticed any smell before. I have a new puppy who is constantly eating them quicker then I can pull them up. Do you know if this is toxic for dogs? Tami Northville, MI FYI I use dark brown mulch.thanks for the help

Happy to find your information on this type of fungi. We've seen them in our yard for the past two years and had no idea what they were until now! We live in Southeastern Pennsylvania and I see some of our neigbors in PA and NJ have them too. Thought I was the only one with these strange things in our yard!

I found a patch of these in my front yard in Jamesburg NJ, this morning. I was very troubled by them as I had never seen anything them before. I too much like another posted before me thought my kids had "planted" their nerf darts. Taking a closer look at them I assumed they were some type of fungus/mushroom. I was troubled by how something could grow that fast overnight. I'm thankful for your pictures and the ppl responding so that I was able to identify what they were.

Ew ick! Before the fungus breaks out from underground, you will see a whitish dome at ground level...it's slimy and nasty! Now I know what this strange (but pretty color of pinkish/coral!) fungus is. We had an extremely hot and dry summer this year. Can't imagine why fungus would flourish this year. I live in northern Indiana.

Hi from Kununurra WA! We just had a huge patch grow overnight out of the mulch and in the spot where the air conditioner condenser drips continually into in the garden.It started with one stalk overnight and then the second night a large "posy" just appeared the next morning! The flies were all over it and within hours they were a wilted mess... But more appear to be budding in the mulch so we might have a continual bit of colour in our otherwise green garden. Thanks for the blog - was a real help in IDing our new resident!

Thank you for you great photos and blog gaye. They helped me to identify the dozens of bizarre fungi that have emerged over the last couple of days in woodchip mulch under a large eucalypt. It has been very damp this year, unusually so here about 50km south of Brisbane,Queensland

I live in Washington, DC, and noticed about two months ago these strange orange UGLY mushrooms growing in my yard. Like others, they are growing in my black mulch. I too find them very creepy and plan to dig them up tomorrow.

These pop up under the port jackson figs at Mort Bay Park in Balmain (NSW 2041) after rain. First noticed them 2 weeks or so ago. They draw a crowd thats for sure. I thought they might be aliens from out of space. They were there again this morning.

Hi Gaye, I just found some of these in my garden in Samford, Queensland. I was pulling weeds in my garden and thought for sure something had died close by due to the stench. Can anyone tell me if they are poisonous as I saw my chickens eating a couple of them yesterday but at the time wasn't sure what it was that they were eating. Thanks to you I now know what they are. Regards, Suzanne

I found two of these in my backyard this summer. I have lived on Long Island, New York for over 50 years and this was the first summer I spotted them. They are very unique and I just had to search the internet to see what they were.

Hi I found these stink horns in my backyard and I hope you could help me identify it fully. I search the net and it looks unusual. Any mycologist who could help me with this?Please email me jagpaguirigan@yahoo.com

Introduction

Fungi are a vital part of the ecosystem. They are the earth's recycling agents, decomposing dead plant material and returning nutrients to the soil. There is much to be learned about our macro-fungi with many species unstudied. Autumn and early winter is the most productive time in Australia for observing fungi, with a lesser flush in spring.
I am not a mycologist, but rather, an enthusiastic amateur sharing my interest in the fascinating world of fungi.